CALIFORNIA — US life expectancy plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and still hasn’t returned to normal levels.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at life expectancy in California and found it remained lower in 2024 than in 2019, nearly a year shorter than pre-pandemic.

The authors of the study say Black and Hispanic populations experienced the largest deficits in life expectancy.

Overall, according to the most recent data the average life expectancy is 77 and a half years.